MASS MEDIA – AUSTRALIA

How Nine Entertainment turned TV’s summer of sport on its head

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 31 : 7-May-18

There were a number of compelling reasons for Nine Entertainment Company to drop its cricket coverage in favour of a six-year deal to broadcast the Australian Open. Tennis is a better fit for Nine’s audience demographic, while the broadcasting rights and production costs are substantially lower. Timing also played a role; Nine commenced talks with Tennis Australia on 14 March, after Seven West Media’s exclusive negotiating period had expired. Meanwhile, Cricket Australia had issued its tender documents for broadcasting rights in early March, with bids to submitted by 19 March. Nine CEO Hugh Marks had hoped to finalise a deal with Cricket Australia by October 2017, and he says the delay allowed Nine to make the decision to switch from cricket to tennis.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, CRICKET AUSTRALIA, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Stokes sees value in media mergers

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 4-May-18

Seven Group Holdings CEO Ryan Stokes says a merger between a newspaper publisher and a TV network could have synergies, although he argues that such deals should only proceed if they will deliver value for shareholders. Stokes notes that the cross-media model has worked well for Seven West Media, which owns newspaper assets in Western Australia. Stokes has also indicated that Seven Group is likely to eventually offload its investment portfolio and reinvest the proceeds in "active" assets.

CORPORATES
SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, SGH ENERGY, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, WESTRAC HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COATES HIRE LIMITED, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

Tech giants in abuses of power

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Original article by Darren Davidson, Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 1 & 8 : 4-May-18

Many of the submissions to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s inquiry into digital platforms have highlighted the impact of Google and Facebook on jobs and advertising revenue in the media sector. Seven Group CEO Ryan Stokes argued that digital companies should be required to pay a fair price for distributing media content, while Foxtel said it is hard to attract new pay-TV customers when pirated content can be accessed for free on Facebook and YouTube. The Australian Association of National Advertisers called for digital platforms to be regulated in a similar way to traditional media companies.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, YOUTUBE INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL ADVERTISERS, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE, AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS PTY LTD, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, APPLE INCORPORATED

Hywood signals Fairfax open to merger with free-to-air television network

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 19 : 3-May-18

Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood says the company is well-placed to capitalise on industry consolidation in the wake of cross-media ownership reforms. He has also argued that mergers between print and broadcasting companies are possible, although all interested parties would have to benefit from any such deal. Meanwhile, Fairfax has advised that group revenue fell by one per cent during the first 17 weeks of the second half of 2017-18; its Australian Metro Media division’s revenue was about two per cent lower than the same period in 2016-17.

CORPORATES
FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, AUSTRALIAN METRO MEDIA, AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA, STUFF LIMITED, DOMAIN HOLDINGS AUSTRALIA LIMITED – ASX DHA, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM

Nine left without a major summer sport

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Original article by Dana McCauley
The Australian – Page: 21 : 2-May-18

Seven West Media CEO Tim Worner has confirmed that the Seven Network will broadcast cricket and tennis during the 2018-19 summer, despite some Test and Big Bash League matches being scheduled at the same time as the Australian Open. Nine Entertainment Company will take over tennis broadcasting rights in 2020, and there had been speculation that the two networks would cut a deal for Nine to commence its tennis coverage a year earlier.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS, BIG BASH LEAGUE, TENNIS AUSTRALIA, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

Stump up or miss out: first cricket games all on pay-TV

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Original article by Jennifer Duke
The Age – Page: 3 : 1-May-18

Fans of Australian men’s international cricket who only have free-to-air TV will not be able to see any matches in the 2018-19 fixture until 6 December. Cricket Australia announced its upcoming fixture on 30 April, with the first seven men’s international games either being one day games or Twenty20 matches, with all seven games only being shown on pay-TV network Foxtel. Seven West Media, which teamed up recently with Foxtel to secure the rights to broadcast Australian cricket matches for six years in a $A1.2 billion deal, will not broadcast a men’s game until the First Test.

CORPORATES
CRICKET AUSTRALIA, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Regional TV urges more deregulation

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Original article by Max Mason
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 29 : 30-Apr-18

WIN Corporation, Prime Media and Southern Cross Austereo want the Federal Government to further relax cross-media ownership laws by scrapping the rule that a company can own just one TV broadcasting licence in a single market. This would enable regional broadcasters to merge, which Prime CEO Ian Audsley warns is crucial to the sector’s survival. He notes that the cost of buying content is rising while audiences and advertising revenue are fragmenting. Regional broadcasters have also called for the "two radio licences to a market" rule to be scrapped.

CORPORATES
WIN CORPORATION PTY LTD, PRIME MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX PRT, SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO PTY LTD, SOUTHERN CROSS MEDIA GROUP LIMITED – ASX SXL, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SEVEN NETWORK LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, NETFLIX INCORPORATED, STAN ENTERTAINMENT PTY LTD, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ

Sky changing the way it delivers news, digitally

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 : 30-Apr-18

Pay-TV provider Sky News Australia hopes to expand its audience by introducing content on its website that can be accessed only by registered users. There is speculation that Sky News could eventually adopt a pay-wall model for its online content. Meanwhile, Sky News will launch a dedicated Sky News UK channel in late May, which will replace the existing "red button" news service, while the A-PAC public affairs channel will be relaunched as Sky News Extra.

CORPORATES
SKY NEWS, FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SPECIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE (SBS)

ABC gives soft-sell China website the chop

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian – Page: 3 : 24-Apr-18

The ABC will shut down a series of news websites that are published under the Australia Plus banner, including a Mandarin-language version of the site. There have been allegations in the past that a version of the site that is accessible in China has censored content that is critical of the Chinese government. A spokesman for the public broadcaster said the closure of the Australia Plus sites is in response to a review of the ABC’s digital assets.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Seven takes battle to tech giants

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Original article by Darren Davidson
The Australian – Page: 24 & 26 : 23-Apr-18

Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes says digital giants Google and Facebook should be subject to the same regulatory regime as Australian media companies, to ensure a level playing field in the advertising market. Seven’s submission to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s inquiry into the impact of digital platforms on the media and advertising markets has recommended that Facebook and Google should pay a fee for distributing content from traditional media companies. Seven also argues that audience measurement data for ads on Google and Facebook should be subject to independent audits.

CORPORATES
SEVEN WEST MEDIA LIMITED – ASX SWM, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA LLC, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS